Search Results for: career

June 4, 2014

Business leaders must do more to address gender inequality says Mitie CEO

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Workplace

The Chair of the Women’s Business Council, (WBC) Mitie Chief Executive Ruby McGregor-Smith, is calling for a fundamental change in mind-set from business leaders, to help remove the final barriers to women’s equality. In the Council’s ‘One Year On’ report which included discussions with over 500 companies and individuals over the last year, as well as canvassing the views of male Chief Executives; the WBC concludes that male leaders are important, as visible agents of change, to ensure women are not held back in reaching their full potential in the workplace. Back in June 2013, the WBC published a number of recommendations for business and government to improve opportunities for women. Since then things have been moving in the right direction. But despite this progress, the organisation argues that male leaders could do more. More →

May 22, 2014

Talent challenge ahead as UK employers struggle to fill skills gap

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

With the economy picking up, nearly two thirds of UK employers are concerned that they won’t be able to find the people with the skills needed to fill their burgeoning job vacancies. A global PwC survey of over 1,300 CEOs in 68 countries reveals that a quarter of UK business leaders plan to increase their headcount by up to 5 per cent in the next 12 months, with a further 20 per cent planning increases of up to 8 per cent and a further one in five planning increases of over 8 per cent. But 64 per cent of UK business leaders are more concerned about the availability of key skills than any of their Western European counterparts, rating it as the biggest business threat to their growth plans. Technology and engineering firms report the most chronic shortage of skilled employees. More →

May 19, 2014

Managers rate early starters more highly at work, claims new research

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Workplace

Humans remain wedded to long-held ideas about the times and places in which we work best so if you want to get ahead in your career, you need to be in the office nice and early, regardless of any flexible working arrangements. That is the conclusion of new research from the University of Washington due to be published in full later this year in the Journal of Applied Psychology. The research is flagged up by its authors in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review. It shows that our attitudes to presence are so pervasive that workers who get an early start are rated as more effective by their line managers regardless of the number of hours they work and what they achieve in that time. Researchers conclude that managers have a profound morning bias that leads them to confuse conscientiousness with an early start.

May 6, 2014

US employers hold very mixed views on flexible working, claims report

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

It’s not just companies in the UK who appear to have mixed and sometimes contradictory views on the principles of flexible working. A new study from the US based Families and Work Institute in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management has found that while more and more firms are open to the idea of working from home for permanent employees, other forms of flexible working such as job sharing, career breaks or sabbaticals to deal with personal and family issues. The 2014 National Study of Employers found that two-thirds (67 percent) of US organisations now allow employees to work from home at least some of the time, up from 50 per cent in 2008. In addition, 41 per cent of firms let workers decide their own working hours, compared to 32 per cent in 2008. However there are falls in the proportion of employers willing to let staff work flexibly in other ways.

April 24, 2014

Employers that fail to act on engagement findings ‘demotivate staff’

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Workplace

When carrying out employee engagement surveys, employers are not asking the right questions that pinpoint exactly what actions need to be taken. This often results in a failure to act on their findings, which can then lead to higher levels of dissatisfaction amongst staff who have shared their thoughts without seeing any outcome. This is according to a review by software specialist Head Light, which has identified 12 factors which fundamentally impact on how people feel about their work and their employer. These are: wellbeing; motivation; reward and recognition; involvement; autonomy; teamwork and collaboration; purpose and meaning; relationships; trust; career/personal development; communication and performance management. It claims that engagement can be improved at each level of an organisation by asking employees about these 12 factors and then providing senior executives, line managers and individuals with a personalised list of manageable actions. More →

March 31, 2014

HR has the most ‘can’t do’ attitude in the workplace finds poll

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Human resources people are obstructive and most likely to reject reasonable requests in the workplace, finds a new poll. Almost 18 per cent of individuals polled by conference call provider Powwownow voted the HR department as the most difficult to work with; almost double that of Finance/Accounting, the next most maligned department.Why some members of staff are so uncooperative was interpreted by respondents as due to illusions of grandeur (68%), attempts to retain power and hold others back (67%) and confusion/lack of training/lack of confidence (40%). Unhelpfulness does not go unpunished it seems as the majority of respondents (53%) thought that unproductive or obstructive employees are more prone to bullying in the workplace. Those who encounter such unhelpfulness admitted to being driven to consider screaming out of sheer frustration (40%) or even seek new employment (36%) rather than speaking with their superior (30%) about an obstructive colleague. More →

March 14, 2014

Might a lack of joined-up thinking undermine UK high-tech ambitions?

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, News, Property, Technology

Old Street: the UK’s tech epicentre

Over the past week both Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson have offered up visions of economic success founded on new technology. Yet, as the CBI points out in a new report pinpointing the dearth of talent needed to make such dreams a reality, politicians often appear to ignore the realities of a situation. In its new report, Engineering our Future, the CBI calls for significant action to make a career in the key disciplines of science, technology, engineering and maths more attractive and easier to pursue. The report points out that these are the skills needed to underpin the Government’s stated focus on the tech, environmental, engineering and manufacturing industries that will shape the country’s future and is calling for a cut in tuition fees, new courses and inter-disciplinary qualifications to allow those skills to flourish.

March 11, 2014

Building Futures Group announced following merger of FM bodies

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector

The name of the new organisation resulting from the merger of Asset Skills, the CSSA and the FMA is the Building Futures Group. Talks regarding the merger of the groups began last May, and despite the BIFM pulling out of the discussions in August the rest of the groups have gone ahead to form the new representative organisation for the Housing, Property, Planning, Cleaning, Parking and Facilities Management sectors. The new group has also announced Sarah Bentley of Asset Skills as its Chief Executive. She said: “The rationale for the merger was that the industry lacked a consolidated, unified voice. The Building Futures Group will coordinate the sector’s voice and provide a platform that has been so sadly missing. We are fully committed to raising the profile of the industry and transforming the sector”. More →

March 10, 2014

International Women’s Day: odds still stacked against women in the workforce

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

The 110^th International Woman’s Day took place this weekend, and, aside from highlighting the continuing struggles of women across the world, comes research that reveals how in this country, the odds are still stacked against women at work. More than four in 10 (42%) women aged between 18-34 said they have personally faced a gender barrier, followed by 34 per cent of those aged between 35-54 and 26 per cent of women aged 55 and over. Of those women who have experienced inequality at work, over a third (35%) say they believe male colleagues at the same level earn more than they do. Thirty one per cent indicate they are assigned work that is below their level and are therefore unable to demonstrate their abilities, while almost one in five (19%) say that junior colleagues don’t take instructions from them, but will do from male colleagues of equal seniority. More →

March 10, 2014

The workplace of the future is one founded on uncertainty

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

We now know for a fact that the good people at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills take heed of what they read on Workplace Insight. After Simon Heath recently eviscerated the idea of the year 2020 as a useful marker for the ‘future’, a new report from the UKCES draws its line in the sand a bit further on in 2030. It means they can’t have a ‘2020 Vision’ and for that we should be very thankful. Yet the report still falls into the same traps that are always liable to ensnare any prognosis about the workplace of the future, notably that some of the things of which they talk have happened or are happening already. Then there’s the whole messy business of deciding what will emerge from the chaos; a bit like predicting the flavour of the soup you are making when a hundred other cooks are secretly adding their own ingredients.

March 4, 2014

Average UK working parents now spend more on childcare than mortgages

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Last month we questioned the financial wisdom of going to work for Britain’s working parents. Today the question became even more vexed as it emerged they typically pay childcare costs equivalent to over a quarter of the UK average salary. A report from the Family and Childcare Trust says that to have one child in a part-time nursery and another in an after school club would cost £7,549 each year. Not only does this represent 28 percent of the average salary of £26,500 and is more than an average mortgage which is £7,207 per annum. For those with full time childcare the costs are typically £11,700 per year. The report also notes that childcare costs have increased by over a quarter over the last five years and even the Government’s ongoing commitment to childcare is failing to alleviate the situation.

February 28, 2014

UK culture of presenteeism restricts productivity and flexible working

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Further evidence emerges of how the much talked about culture of presenteeism in the UK is hampering the productivity of the country’s workers and restricting the opportunities presented by flexible working. A survey from fit-out company Overbury claims that around four out of five UK employees believe they need to be seen at work to win the approval of bosses and two thirds think it will further their careers even though over two thirds of them (70 percent) believe they get twice as much work done when they are away from the office. “Our research found that presenteeism comes from a complex mix of factors including demands from management, peer pressure and a self-inflicted concern over how others see us. This complexity may be why presenteeism is proving so hard to shift,” said Chris Booth, managing director of Overbury.